Hi,
My three and half year old failed a hearing screen at the speech pathologist's office a couple of weeks ago. Her language not too bad, but her articulation is awful, so I'm not really surprised she has hearing issues. My half-brother has a unilateral loss and his outer ear is deformed. I also have a great-aunt who is hard of hearing, but I'm related to her through marriage and I don't think that's how genetics works. I have couple of questions while I wait for our Thursday appointment with the audiologist. I'm obsessing about this, but I suppose that's normal. Hopefully, by the time the appointment comes, I'll her life planned out in 15 minute increments through her 60th birthday.
1. Does anyone have any experience with late identified children? She passed her infant screen, so I presume she wasn't hard of hearing then. She doesn't have a history of ear infections or anything, so I suspect this is a progressive loss. I also suspect it started when she was about 2, but I'm just going on my gut feeling here. How can they tell if the loss is progressive--do you just have to wait and see if it gets worse?
2. Any thoughts about her audiogram:
3. Her speech is poorly articulated now and I'm leaning toward a Deaf school and ASL for the whole family. Has anyone else made that decision and how has it worked out for you? We live in a rural area so it will be a commute for her, but from what I've read about older kids and teens, it is better to give them the foundation in sign so can thrive socially. I'm less concerned about her ability to get along in the hearing world and more concerned with giving her both a strong internal "voice" and a grounding in language from which to build.
Thanks so much!
My three and half year old failed a hearing screen at the speech pathologist's office a couple of weeks ago. Her language not too bad, but her articulation is awful, so I'm not really surprised she has hearing issues. My half-brother has a unilateral loss and his outer ear is deformed. I also have a great-aunt who is hard of hearing, but I'm related to her through marriage and I don't think that's how genetics works. I have couple of questions while I wait for our Thursday appointment with the audiologist. I'm obsessing about this, but I suppose that's normal. Hopefully, by the time the appointment comes, I'll her life planned out in 15 minute increments through her 60th birthday.
1. Does anyone have any experience with late identified children? She passed her infant screen, so I presume she wasn't hard of hearing then. She doesn't have a history of ear infections or anything, so I suspect this is a progressive loss. I also suspect it started when she was about 2, but I'm just going on my gut feeling here. How can they tell if the loss is progressive--do you just have to wait and see if it gets worse?
2. Any thoughts about her audiogram:
3. Her speech is poorly articulated now and I'm leaning toward a Deaf school and ASL for the whole family. Has anyone else made that decision and how has it worked out for you? We live in a rural area so it will be a commute for her, but from what I've read about older kids and teens, it is better to give them the foundation in sign so can thrive socially. I'm less concerned about her ability to get along in the hearing world and more concerned with giving her both a strong internal "voice" and a grounding in language from which to build.
Thanks so much!